WiMAX Capacity Fixed

WiMAX Capacity White Paper
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All rights reserved. August 2006
Printed in Canada
WHITE PAPER 033-100743-001,ISSUE 1 2

Table of Contents
1 ABSTRACT................................................................................................... 6
2 PROTOCOL MODEL .................................................................................... 8
2.1 DATA/CONTROL PLANE..............................................................................9

2.2 MANAGEMENT PLANE ................................................................................9
3 PHYSICAL LAYER ..................................................................................... 10
3.1 CHANNEL SIZE ........................................................................................10

3.2 OFDM...................................................................................................11
3.3 FRAME AND SYMBOL SIZE ........................................................................14
3.4 PREAMBLES............................................................................................14
3.4.1 Synchronization .........................................................................14
3.4.2 Ranging .....................................................................................15
3.4.3 Midambles .................................................................................16
3.5 SUB-CHANNELS.......................................................................................16
3.6 MINIMUM ALLOCATION UNIT .....................................................................17
3.6.1 Downlink ....................................................................................17
3.6.2 Uplink ........................................................................................18
3.7 ADAPTIVE MODULATION/CODING AND POWER CONTROL .............................19
3.8 DIVERSITY ..............................................................................................20
3.8.1 Space-Time Coding (STC) ........................................................20
3.8.2 MIMO.........................................................................................20
3.9 ADAPTIVE ANTENNA SYSTEM (AAS) .........................................................21
4 MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL LAYER ......................................................... 22
4.1 MAC HEADER ........................................................................................22

4.1.1 Sub headers ..............................................................................24
4.2 CHANNEL USAGE MAPS ...........................................................................26
4.2.1 Frame Control Header ...............................................................26
4.2.2 Downlink Map ............................................................................26
4.2.3 Uplink Map.................................................................................28
4.2.4 Downlink and Uplink Channel Descriptors.................................28
4.3 BANDWIDTH REQUESTS ...........................................................................29
4.3.1 Contention .................................................................................29
4.3.2 Polling........................................................................................31
4.3.3 Piggyback ..................................................................................32
5 CHANNEL BANDWIDTH CALCULATION ................................................. 33
6 QOS ............................................................................................................ 36
6.1 CONSTANT BIT RATE SERVICES................................................................36

6.2 VARIABLE BIT RATE SERVICES .................................................................37
6.3 BEST EFFORT SERVICES..........................................................................38
6.4 SHARING NON-GUARANTEED BANDWIDTH .................................................38
6.5 OVER-SUBSCRIPTION ..............................................................................39
7 CAPACITY SCENARIOS............................................................................ 42

7.1 BROADBAND DATA-ONLY .........................................................................42
7.2 MIXED VOICE AND BROADBAND ................................................................43
8 SUMMARY.................................................................................................. 45

List of Figures
FIGURE 1 - IEEE 802.16 PROTOCOL REFERENCE MODEL .......................................... 8

FIGURE 2 - MAC PDU FORMATS ........................................................................... 22
FIGURE 3 - GENERIC MAC HEADER FORMAT ........................................................... 23
FIGURE 4 - DOWNLINK BANDWIDTH CALCULATION SEQUENCE.................................... 33
FIGURE 5 - UPLINK BANDWIDTH CALCULATION SEQUENCE ........................................ 34
FIGURE 6 - WIMAX CHANNEL BANDWIDTH SPREADSHEET MODEL ............................. 35
FIGURE 7 – AGGREGATE CHANNEL BANDWIDTH PARTITIONING .................................. 39
FIGURE 8 - ALLOCATING NETWORK BANDWIDTH ....................................................... 41

Abstract
This white paper discusses factors influencing system capacity in IEEE 802.16
networks. IEEE 802.16, commonly known by its industry forum moniker of WiMAX, is
a wireless protocol intended for establishing metropolitan area networks that supply
broadband data and voice services.
The present standards document, IEEE 802.16-2004 as amended by IEEE 802.16-

2005, is more accurately regarded as a family of distinct physical layer standards
sharing a common media access layer. This family of physical layers includes
separate standards for single-carrier, and two distinct orthogonal multi-carrier
physical layers. Historically the OFDM physical layer was the primary focus of the
initial effort to develop a protocol suitable for non-line-of-sight (NLOS) stationary
radio station operation. Succeeding development of the OFDMA physical layer
focused on adding features to support low-speed mobile operation.
In this white paper, we will confine the capacity discussion to the OFDM physical
layer in order to avoid a lengthy discussion of the additional complications that
mobility introduces; including handover and dynamic cell occupancy. Capacity for
mobile applications will be an important topic for a later white paper.
The objective of this white paper is to better understand WiMAX system capacity.
But first, what do we mean by the “capacity” of a WiMAX system? Simply put, the
system capacity refers to the number of connections that the wireless channel can
support without unduly degrading the data services carried on the channel.1. We
focus on the wireless channel rather than other system resources because normally
the airlink is the most expensive and therefore the controlling system element related
to capacity in wireless access networks.
Operators care deeply about the system capacity because of the nature of wireless
access network deployments. WiMAX access networks are often deployed in point-
to-multipoint cellular fashion where a single base station provides wireless coverage
to a collection of subscriber stations within the coverage area. The base station in
turn is linked to external wide area networks via wired, fiber, or wireless point-to-
point backhaul infrastructure. Normally, the radio spectrum that is available to a
deployment is a scarce and often expensive resource. During the planning phase of
a deployment, once an operator has determined the radio spectrum channel size for
each base station, the next question becomes: how many data connections can the
channel support? The question is doubly important since it is often prohibitively
expensive to later overlay additional wireless capacity into the same coverage area.
Further, it is central to understanding how may base stations are required for a
deployment region. And without a firm understanding of the system capacity an
operator has no way of estimating the recovery time for the up-front costs of
deploying the access network. Understanding the system capacity is therefore key to
deploying a commercially successful access network.
1
As we will see, each WiMAX connection carries data traffic characterized by a set of QoS parameters, so that a set of
connections has an associated aggregate total bandwidth. The capacity of the system can therefore equivalently be thought of
in terms of the aggregate total bandwidth required to support a set of connections.

In wired networks, such as legacy voice, the capacity of a channel (trunk) is
intuitively obvious because each active voice conversation requires fixed dedicated
bandwidth (e.g. t = 64 kbits/s plus a small signaling overhead) and the capacity is
simply the number of conversations that the channel (trunk) bandwidth, T, can
support: capacity = (T / t).
In a WiMAX wireless channel, the situation is considerably more complex as we shall

see. To begin with, the channel is not necessarily of fixed size but can vary with time
as environmental conditions change. This is particularly relevant in NLOS channels.
Also, a WiMAX channel can be configured in a number of different ways depending
on operator preferences, regulatory constraints, and performance requirements.
Many of these configuration choices affect the channel capacity, often in non-
obvious ways. Finally, the nature of mixed application broadband data services
defies easy classification of an “average” connection. Accurate capacity analysis
therefore presupposes detailed specification of the number and type of the data
services sharing the channel. As we will see, the manner in which the traffic is
mapped onto the WiMAX channel’s QoS model also affects the capacity. The
capacity of a WiMAX system therefore depends on environmental conditions,
configuration, and the nature of the data traffic that is transported by the system.
The structure of this white paper begins with a discussion of the 802.16 protocol
model. Next we examine the system capacity at the physical layer including a
discussion of the overhead needed to support the wireless channel. Moving up the
protocol stack we next look at the capacity at the media access layer and examine
the overhead introduced there. We next examine the WiMAX QoS model and
discuss how the mapping of data services influences the system capacity. Bringing
this information together, we next illustrate the resultant system capacity that arises
in several hypothetical deployment scenarios. The white paper concludes with a brief
summary of the main points.

2 Protocol Model
The IEEE 802.16 protocol is a member of the IEEE 802 family of standards and
addresses the media access and physical layers. The protocol reference model is
shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 - IEEE 802.16 Protocol Reference Model
A standard protocol-layering model is used. MAC peers communicate by

sending/receiving data to/from the PHY layer. The PHY layers communicate via the
802.16 airlink.
In the point-to-multipoint mode of operation, a base station transmits on the downlink

channel to a collection subscriber stations by broadcasting the data to the stations
that then select data that is addressed to them. Each subscriber station
communicates with a single base station and a collection of subscriber stations
share an uplink channel for transmitting to the base via a multiple access scheme
that is controlled by the base.

2.1 Data/Control Plane
User data flows into an 802.16 node at the MAC CS SAP and is passed to the
underlying PHY layer at the PHY SAP. The PHY layer then transports the data over
the 802.16 airlink. When we speak of the capacity of an 802.16 system we are
referring to capability to pass the user data that flows vertically through the
Data/Control Plane shown in the figure.
2.2 Management Plane

Although not part of the standard, management traffic can also enter the system via
the Management Plane. Some of this traffic may be destined for remote stations and
is transported via the PHY layer via the airlink. Strictly speaking, capacity analysis
should account for management traffic as part of the overall system overhead.
However, because management traffic is ordinarily a negligible portion of the overall
traffic load, it will mostly be ignored in this white paper.

3 Physical Layer
WiMAX protocol adds overhead to user traffic starting with the physical layer, which
transmits MAC PDUs to physical layer peers over the airlink. This section presents
the overhead incurred at the PHY layer including mandatory and optional elements.
Variable factors including adaptive modulation and code rate are discussed.
The physical (PHY) layer takes MAC PDUs input at the PHY SAP and arranges
them for transport over the airlink. The WiMAX protocol adds overhead to user traffic
starting with the physical layer, which transmits to peer physical layers over the
airlink. This section presents the overhead incurred at the PHY layer including
mandatory and optional elements. Variable factors including adaptive modulation
and code rate are discussed.
3.1 Channel Size

A basic understanding of a WiMAX system’s capacity begins with knowing how
much radio spectrum is available. The available radio spectrum ultimately constrains
the size of the channels in frequency bandwidth. The channel size in turn fixes the
raw capacity of the channel – double the channel size and the capacity doubles
(albeit range in general will decrease).
The 802.16 MAC/PHY standard attempts to avoid constraining the carrier frequency
(“below 11 GHz”) for OFDM/OFDMA radios and places very general limits on the
channel size (from 1.25 to 20 MHz). There are currently no worldwide spectrum
allocations for WiMAX systems.
The obvious issue is interoperability between hardware implementations, which the

WiMAX Forum has addressed by developing equipment profiles that specify
licensed/unlicensed carrier frequency and channel sizes, as well as long lists of
interrelated mandatory and optional features from the 802.16 standard. WiMAX
certification of compliant implementations is based on these profiles in order to
insure basic interoperability between vendors.
Many large operators have strong motivation, either competitive or regulatory, to

operate in licensed spectrum bands. Of the available bands in the global patchwork
of regulated spectrum the licensed 3.5 GHz ITU FDD blocks are the most widely
available. For this reason, the majority of initial WiMAX equipment has been certified
for use in the 3.5 GHz band. The available profile channel sizes are integer multiples
of 1.75 MHz (1.75, 3.5, 7 MHz). The channel size is driven by the size of an
operator’s allocation from their country’s regulator. For example, assuming cell reuse
of one between four-sector base stations, an operator needs 14+14 MHz for 3.5
MHz channels and 7+7 MHz for 1.75 MHz channels. Oftentimes clustered base
station deployments will require even more spectrum to increase the reuse factor
and mitigate interference between coverage cells.

3.2 OFDM
In Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, the occupied spectrum is broken up
into many discrete narrowband channels known as “sub carriers” (alternatively
known as “tones”). Each data carrier is modulated over a symbol time that is
inversely related to the carrier frequency spacing so that sub carriers have minimal
mutual interference between them. In this sense the sub carriers are “orthogonal” or
independent from one another. The capacity of each sub carrier depends on the
modulation order, which can be BPSK (1 bit per sub carrier), QPSK (2 bits per sub
carrier), 16QAM (4 bits per sub carrier), or 64QAM (6 bits per sub carrier) in the case
of the OFDM PHY. In general more power is required for using higher order
modulation in order to achieve the same range performance.
In the OFDM PHY there are 256 sub carriers spanning the sampling spectrum which
is defined as:
Eq. 1) Fs = FLOOR(n · BW / 8000) · 8000 ,
Where n is the sampling factor, a constant dependent on the channel size, and BW
is the channel size in units of Hz. The number of sub carriers corresponds to the size
of the FFT/IFFT used to receive and transmit the OFDM symbols. To reduce the
complexity of the digital processing algorithms it is desirable to use FFT sizes that
are powers of 2.
For channels in the 3.5 GHz band the licensed channels are multiples of 1.75 MHz
and n = 8/7. For a channel width of 3.5 MHz the sampling spectrum is 4.0 MHz. The
256 sub carriers are equally distributed across the sampling spectrum implying a
spacing of:
Eq. 2) ∆f = Fs/256 .
For example ∆f = Fs/256 = 15,625 Hz for a 3.5 MHz channel.

Notice that changing the channel width changes both the sub carrier spacing and the
symbol time. This implies a range of practical channel sizes for fixed applications but
quickly becomes unworkable for mobile applications where the design approach of
scaling the FFT size to the channel width is used with the OFDMA PHY.
In order to provide increased inter-channel interference margin and ease the radio
filtering constraints, not all of the 256 sub carriers are energized. There are 28 lower
and 27 upper “guard” sub carriers plus the DC sub carrier that are never energized.
Of the 256 total sub carriers therefore, only 200 are used which leaves a total
occupied spectrum of ∆f · 200 = 3.125 MHz for a 3.5 MHz channel. This example
implies a raw, occupied bandwidth efficiency of 89% (3.125/3.5 = 89%), but the
number varies for other channel bandwidths and sampling factors. This is the first
example we have encountered of what can be considered to be channel overhead
that decreases the channel capacity, in this case it is required by design to improve
the channel quality when adjacent spectrum is occupied.

Not all of the 200 occupied sub carriers are used to carry data traffic. There are eight
pilot sub carriers that are dedicated for channel estimation purposes, leaving 192
data sub carriers for user and management traffic. In order to calculate the raw
channel capacity it is useful to understand how many bits each data sub carrier can
carry.
The raw sub carrier capacity, before taking out the overhead added by redundant
error correction bits, is given by the modulation order: 6 bits/sub carrier for 64QAM, 4
bits/sub carrier for 16 QAM, and so on. For example, a channel able to support
64QAM modulation could send six bits for each data carrier per symbol. But how
long is a symbol?
As we noted, the orthogonality of the sub carriers is achieved by maintaining an

inverse relationship between the sub carrier spacing and the symbol time. So the
useful symbol time is just the inverse of the sub carrier spacing:
Eq. 3) Tb = 1/∆f.
For example, a 3.5 MHz channel has a useful symbol time of 1/15625 = 64 us.
However for multi-path channels, we must make allowances for variable delay
spread and time synchronization errors. In OFDM, this is accomplished by repeating
a fraction of the last portion of the useful symbol time and appending it to the
beginning of the symbol for a resulting symbol time of:
Eq. 4) Ts = Tb + G · Tb,
Where G is a fraction:
Eq. 5) G = 1/2m, m = {2,3,4,5}.
The repeated symbol fraction is called the “cyclic prefix”. Larger cyclic prefix implies
increased overhead (decreased capacity since the cyclic prefix carries no new
information) but larger immunity to ISI from multi-path and synchronization errors.
For a 3.5 MHz channel the useful symbol time is 64 us and the minimum total
symbol time is Ts = 64 us + 64/32 us = 66us. The raw channel capacity per symbol
is:
Eq. 6) Craw = 192 · k / Ts,
Where k is the bits per symbol for the modulation being used.
Assuming 64QAM modulation (6 bits per symbol): 192 data sub carriers x 6 bits/sub
carrier / 66 us = 17.45 Mbps.
But in any practical wireless system we can expect to have occasional errors
introduced by imperfect transmission, the airlink, or imperfect detection. The solution
is to send redundant bits with the information bits in each symbol to aid in error
detection and correction, a technique known as Forward Error Correction (FEC). In
the OFDM PHY FEC is done using a combination of a Reed-Solomon outer code
combined with a convolutional inner code. Adding redundant bits adds overhead and

reduces the channel capacity. The design goal is to balance the added overhead
against the improvement in link performance and residual error rate.
The useful capacity of the combined 192 data sub carriers therefore depends on the
overall coding rate as given by the following table reproduced from the standard
(Table 215 in IEEE 802.16-2004).
Table 1 - Mandatory Channel Coding Per Modulation
Notice that the modulation rates are designed so that an FEC coded block just fits in
one symbol time when all 192 sub carriers are used. For instance for 64QAM, 144
Bytes = 1152 bits / 6 bits/symbol = 192 sub carriers.
The useful channel capacity per symbol is:
Eq. 7) C = Craw x OCR,
Where OCR is the overall coding rate given in the table. For example, for a 3.5 MHz
channel the useful channel capacity per symbol assuming the highest rate
modulation and coding is: C = 17.45 Mbps x 3/4 = 13.1 Mbps.2
It is useful to summarize the discussion of the channel capacity is terms of the

spectral efficiency. Spectral efficiency is expressed in units of bits per second per Hz
and is obtained by dividing the channel capacity by the channel width:
Eq. 8) E = C / BW.
We can see that our 3.5 MHz channel has a spectral efficiency (so far) up to 13.1
Mbps / 3.5 MHz = 3.74 b/s/Hz. The spectral efficiency is a useful figure of merit to
keep in mind because it lets you quickly calculate the capacity for other channel
sizes that WiMAX supports.
2 By now at least some readers must be wondering what happened to the often-hyped 75 Mbps channel capacity for WiMAX?
Taking the very largest channel size, 20 MHz, highest coding rate, and minimum cyclic prefix, the raw channel size using
equation 6 is: Craw = 192 x 6 b/sub carrier / 11.3 us = 102.0 Mbps. The useful channel size from equation 7 is: C = Craw x ¾ =
76.5 Mbps. Of course we have said nothing about the (short) range of such a hypothetical channel, and we should be aware
that this is before taking out other PHY and MAC layer overhead that, as we will see, is significant. To be blunt, talking about 75
Mbps WiMAX channels for MAN applications is about as meaningful as quoting the top end speed marked on the speedometer
of a family minivan.

3.3 Frame and Symbol Size
So far we have been concerned with the combined capacity of the sub carriers
referenced to the OFDM symbol time. In fact, the symbols are not sent in an endless
stream but are formatted into a TDMA frame with a whole number of symbols per
frame. Since the symbol time varies with channel width there is no way to have a
whole number of symbols fit into a fixed frame length in every case. This means that
there can be a small gap at the end of each frame that is unused. This overhead,
amounting to less than one symbol period in a frame, depends on the selected frame
size and channel width and is of greatest impact for shorter frame lengths.
In the OFDM PHY specification the allowed frame sizes are: Tf = {2.5, 4, 5, 8, 10,
12.5, 20 ms}. For a 3.5 MHz channel width with a 1/8 cyclic prefix, the symbol length
is 72 us. Assuming a 10 ms frame length the whole number of symbols per frame is:
Eq. 9) N = FLOOR(Tf / Ts)
Where Tf is the frame length. In this case, N = FLOOR(10ms/72us) = 138 symbols.

The gap at the end of the frame is therefore Tf – (138 x Ts) = 64 us, equivalent to
about 0.6% reduction is the sustainable channel capacity.
This discussion assumes that Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) channels are used,
which uses separate spectrum for the transmit and receive channels. WiMAX also
supports Time Division Duplex (TDD) channels, which uses the same spectrum for
the receive and transmit channels. TDD is used primarily in unlicensed spectrum
deployments. With TDD, the transmit and receive frames are adjustable in length
and there is a mandatory guard time gap between them which can increase the
overhead slightly. The constraint that the transmit and receive frames must have a
whole number of symbols remains.
3.4 Preambles
3.4.1 Synchronization
Receivers need a way of synchronizing to the beginning of the TDMA frame and
symbol time.
On the downlink (base station talking to a subscriber station) synchronization is

provided by a fixed preamble pattern of bits that is transmitted at the beginning of
each frame. Since the preamble transmits no actual data its presence reduces the
channel capacity. The downlink preamble takes two OFDM symbols out of each
frame. Therefore, after accounting for transmission gaps at the end of the frame, the
overhead is increased by 2/N where N is the number of whole symbols in a frame.
Obviously this impacts shortest frame lengths most since N is smaller. For our
example 3.5 MHz channel with a 1/8 cyclic prefix and a 10ms frame, the downlink
preamble overhead amounts to 2/138 = 1.4%.

The uplink on the other hand is shared between a collection of subscriber stations
and the base station receiver similarly needs to synchronize to each subscriber
station transmitter when they begin to transmit a “burst” of data consisting of one or
more consecutive symbols in a frame.3 This requires each subscriber station to
prepend a preamble to the beginning of each burst. The preambles occupy one
symbol at the beginning of each and every burst. The overhead this presents is
variable depending on the burst size in terms of the number of symbols. This is our
first example of overhead that depends on the type of user traffic that is being carried
by the channel. In the worst case, subscriber stations are sending bursts of very
short data requiring only a single symbol per frame. For example, referring to the
coding table, suppose each subscriber station was using 64QAM-3/4 and sent 108
Bytes (uncoded) or less in each burst, that is one symbol’s worth of data assuming
all data carriers are used. In this case, the overhead amounts to an alarming 50%
because each one symbol burst would be sent with a one-symbol preamble.4
Fortunately many types of user traffic have characteristically longer burst sizes or
can be buffered to group data requests together to form longer bursts.
3.4.2 Ranging
In a WiMAX system consisting of a base station communicating with a collection of
subscriber stations at different ranges, we need a method compensating for the
variable transit delay over the airlink so that the base station can coordinate selective
use of the uplink and avoid receiving symbols that overlap in time. This is
accomplished by measuring the distance (delay) between each subscriber station
and their base station. The goal is to make each subscriber station appear to be
collocated with the base station in terms of the transmission alignment.
The details of the methods used (part of the “initial ranging” and “periodic ranging”
processes) are unimportant to our capacity discussion except that periodically, a
base station will allocate one or more uplink symbols for listening to new subscriber
stations joining the network and reporting their delay compensation value and other
data needed to communicate with the base station. These ranging opportunities are
allocated on the uplink assuming a two-symbol preamble. The total allocation is
therefore at least three symbols long.5 How often the base station listens for ranging
information is configurable but in steady state an allocation every few hundred
OFDM frames is reasonable.6 The overhead is therefore normally quite negligible
and affects the uplink frame only.
3
In the 802.16 OFDM PHY protocol a burst is a consecutive group of symbols in the time axis by all of data sub carriers in the
frequency axis. For the uplink, if optional sub-channels are supported, multiple simultaneous bursts can be supported by
dividing the data sub carriers into groups. A burst is confined to a TDMA frame and must use the same channel parameters
such as modulation and coding, transmitted power, etc., during the burst.
4
Granted 108 Bytes is not a lot of data but the example is not entirely academic, many compressed VoIP implementations
generate packet sizes less than 100 Bytes every 10 to 20 ms. Aggregating the packets together implies increasing end-to-end
latency that may not be acceptable
5
It could be longer at the base station’s discretion to allow for more subscriber stations to join at once with smaller chance of
colliding with each other’s requests. Normally this is only an issue for initial base station startup where there could be a large
number of subscriber stations trying to join at once.
6
Section 10.1 in IEEE 802.16-2004 defines the maximum interval between initial ranging opportunities as 2 seconds.

Once a subscriber station has joined a network, it periodically needs to refresh the
ranging values (“periodic ranging” process). This is configurable and done on a per
subscriber station basis but similarly requires negligible added overhead because it
is performed relatively infrequently.
To summarize, preambles required for receiver synchronization and ranging are

examples of required overhead at the PHY layer. For now, simply note that the
uplink has higher overhead than the downlink because of the shared nature of the
channel and that burst preamble overhead can be significant.
3.4.3 Midambles
Midambles are allowed for OFDM PHY bursts under certain circumstances. The goal
is to improve channel estimation particularly in mobile scenarios.
For the uplink, midambles, if enabled, are inserted every 8, 16, or 32 data symbols.
For the downlink, midambles are optional if downlink sub-channels are implemented
as specified in the IEEE 802.16e-2005 amendment.
Because the focus of midambles is on mobility where channel estimation is more

dynamic, we will ignore their overhead contribution here.
3.5 Sub-channels
The OFDM PHY allows the uplink channel to be subdivided into 16 sub-channels in
order to allow subscriber stations to concentrate their transmission power into fewer
data sub carriers in each symbol.7 This also lets multiple subscriber stations share
the channel simultaneously, which increases the flexibility (and scheduler
complexity) for efficiently using the uplink channel. Support of sub-channels by
subscriber stations is optional.
Sub-channels affect the channel capacity indirectly by changing the minimum

allocation unit on the uplink. The standard supports sub-channel grouping in powers
of two so that a subscriber station can transmit in 1, 2, 4, 8, or all 16 sub-channels
(the default). The smallest allocation unit is one sub-channel, which consists of
192/16 = 12 sub carriers in frequency by one OFDM symbol in time. In that case the
coded and uncoded block size is 1/16 of the value shown in the coding table. In
general, the coded and uncoded block sizes shown in the coding table are reduced
by a fraction determined by the number of allocated sub-channels divided by 16.
This allows very granular data allocations on the uplink, which can improve the
airlink utilization by matching the allocation to the amount of data being sent. For
instance, without sub-channels a subscriber station using 64QAM-2/3 code rate has
an uncoded minimum allocation unit of 96 Bytes. If the subscriber station needs to
send 6 Bytes in a frame then 90 Bytes of the allocation are wasted. However if a
single sub-channel is allocated the uncoded minimum allocation unit is 96 x 1/16 = 6
Bytes. The allocation perfectly matches the data payload in that case.
7
Sub-channels can be useful for balancing the uplink and downlink link margins since ordinarily subscriber stations, compared
to the base station, have much lower radiated power capability due to cost and antenna constraints. Regulatory power density
limits, as always, must be observed when transmitting in fewer sub-channels.

Sub-channels therefore influence a capacity analysis depending on the size of the
payload in relationship to the minimum allocation unit. In order to make an estimate
of the amount of wasted capacity (overhead) in an allocation we need to have an
idea of the average payload size which in turn depends on the types of data
applications supported by the subscriber stations.
3.6 Minimum Allocation Unit

One of the strengths of OFDM technology is its ability to send very small amounts of
information using as few as a single data sub carrier for one symbol time. For
example, using the highest order modulation (64QAM), a single data sub carrier
could be used to send as few as six bits at a time. The channel usage is therefore, at
least in principle, highly granular. In terms of the channel capacity this granularity
helps reduce the amount of wasted bandwidth in sending packets over the channel,
because the allocation can be closely fitted to the size of the packet. In that case the
aggregate capacity of the channel increases because it can be used more efficiently.
However, there are restrictions on how the 802.16 OFDM PHY organizes the data
sub carriers into Minimum Allocation Units (MAU). The MAU is the smallest two-
dimensional quantum of frequency and time that can be allocated for sending
information across the channel. In the OFDM PHY the MAU’s useful capacity (Bytes)
is variable and depends on the chosen modulation and coding according to the
following.
Eq. 10) SIZEOF(MAU) = FLOOR(Nc * Nsc * OCR / 16) , where
Nc = coded block size in Bytes (see Table 1), and Nsc = number of allocated sub-
channels (1..16) for the uplink or 16 for the downlink.8
3.6.1 Downlink
The downlink does not support sub-channels for the OFDM PHY with the current
baseline specification.9 The downlink MAU is therefore one symbol by all (192) data
sub carriers. The second column in Table 1 shows the MAU size in number of Bytes,
which varies with coding and modulation. This size allows each symbol to carry
exactly one FEC block, which protects the integrity of the data over the wireless
channel.
8
To be completely accurate, each burst should have one Byte subtracted from the total size because of the tail bits required to
flush the convolutional coder. For instance, if an uplink burst consisted of only one MAU, the total size would be one Byte less
than calculated in the equation.
9
Downlink sub-channel support in PMP deployments was recently added in the IEEE 802.16e-2005 amendment (see
8.3.5.1.1) for improved frequency reuse, lower overhead, and mobility support. In remains to be seen how widely this feature
will be adopted for fixed applications, which is the focus of this white paper.

For the downlink, the base station has sole usage and control of the channel. Later
we will see that there are packing and fragmentation features at the MAC layer that
can be used to fit the size of the packets to be sent to the MAU. In addition, the base
station scheduler has considerable freedom in arranging the packets to be sent into
a burst, which can be shared, by multiple subscriber stations. However there can be
cases where the amount of data to be sent in a burst just spills over a MAU
boundary, and in those cases a nearly empty MAU is sent, representing additional
channel overhead.
Clearly, the additional overhead represented by fractionally occupied downlink MAUs

is variable. In order to estimate the impact of the additional overhead on the downlink
from unused portions of the MAU we need to know something about the packet size
and the modulation distributions. A worst-case estimate of the additional overhead
would be to assume that each burst has one additional unused MAU associated with
it. For the downlink the number of bursts depends on number of separate channel
profiles in use but will typically be less than four within the time span of a TDMA
frame.
3.6.2 Uplink
The uplink supports optional sub-channels for the OFDM PHY.
By default, when sub-channels are not used, the MAU is the same as the downlink:
one symbol by all data sub carriers. The second column in Table 1 shows the MAU
size in number of Bytes in that case which varies with coding and modulation. This
size allows each symbol to carry exactly one FEC block.
When sub-channels are implemented, the MAU is as shown in the table but divided
by the number of sub-channels allocated to the subscriber station. For example in
the case of 64QAM-2/3, if a single sub-channel is allocated to a subscriber station,
the MAU is 96 Bytes / 16 = 6 Bytes.
For the uplink, the base station controls access to the channel that is shared
between multiple subscriber stations. Only a single subscriber station can transmit
on a (sub)channel at once. As with the downlink, packing and fragmentation features
at the MAC layer that can be used to fit the size of the packets to be sent to the
MAU. But because an uplink burst can only be used by a single subscriber station,
there is less opportunity for the base station to optimally fit the amount of uplink data
to the MAU quanta. Mitigating this disadvantage is that the MAU is smaller when
sub-channels are supported. However there can be cases where the amount of data
to be sent in a burst just spills over a MAU boundary, and in those cases a nearly
empty MAU is sent, representing additional channel overhead.

As with the downlink, the additional overhead represented by fractionally occupied
MAUs is variable. In order to estimate the impact of the additional overhead on the
uplink from unused portions of the MAU we need to know something about the
packet size and the modulation distributions. A worst-case estimation of the
additional overhead would be to assume that each burst has one additional unused
MAU associated with it. For the uplink the number of bursts depends on number of
active subscriber stations in a frame. The number of uplink bursts per frame will
generally be higher than the downlink for this reason.
3.7 Adaptive Modulation/Coding and Power Control

In wired networks the channel impairments tend to be constant or at least very slowly
varying. Wireless networks in contrast, especially those that support non-line-of-sight
(NLOS) communication, are well known for rapidly fluctuating channel conditions
even when the transmitter and receiver are stationary. Broadly speaking, the lower
the modulation and coding rate, and the higher the transmitted power, the more
channel fading a system can tolerate and still maintain a link at a constant error
level. It is desirable therefore to be able to dynamically change the transmitted power
and coding rate to best match the channel conditions at the moment in order to
continually support the highest capacity channel possible. WiMAX systems,
controlled by the base stations, support adaptive modulation and coding on both the
downlink and uplink and adaptive power control on the uplink.
Adaptive modulation and coding is relevant to our capacity discussion because it

changes the size of the raw channel. Referring to the channel coding table, the
uncoded channel size varies by a factor of nine between the highest and lowest
modulation. This means that the channel capacity can vary by nearly an order of
magnitude depending on link conditions! This potentially presents a real challenge to
predicting the overall system capacity. Fortunately, in properly designed real
systems consisting of more than a few 10’s of stationary subscriber stations, the
overall distribution of modulation and code rates tends to be relatively stable.10 For
analysis purposes, what is important is knowledge of what the modulation
distribution is so that an average channel capacity can be calculated.
10
The reason is that most systems adjust the transmitted power or receiver attenuation as a first line of defense against
channel fades, and then the code rate, and finally the modulation if necessary. Diversity also adds increased margin against
channel fades and adds stability.

3.8 Diversity
So far we have been considering a basic OFDM channel consisting of a single
transmitter and a single receiver at each station. Increased resistance to channel
fades can be accomplished by combining signals from multiple path independent
channels. The general method, called Multiple-In Multiple-Out (MIMO) channel
estimation, combines signals from M transmitters (M-In) and N receivers (N-Out) with
the goal to either enhance the fade resistance, increase the combined channel
spectral efficiency, or some combination of both. MIMO is highly effective but with
the tradeoff of increased hardware cost and signal processing complexity.
In WiMAX diversity is optional but can be supported via Space-Time Coding and
Maximum Ratio Combining.11. We focus on the added overhead required rather than
implementation details.
3.8.1 Space-Time Coding (STC)

Space-Time Coding (STC) is a form of downlink transmit diversity, and is an optional
PHY capability that can add up to 15 dB link margin in fading NLOS environments.
This substantial benefit is provided via an additional transmit chain at the base
station and decoding logic at the subscriber station. Technically STC is a special
case of MIMO: Multiple-In Single-Out (MISO). Since there are ordinarily many more
subscriber stations than base stations STC is a particularly cost effective way of
adding downlink diversity without requiring additional expensive subscriber station
hardware. The base station generates two differently coded streams for the two
transmit chains so that the subscriber station can use a relatively simple decoding
algorithm to combine the two signals. Since fading will not ordinarily affect both
transmit chains simultaneously, the result is additional link protection and higher
availability in NLOS conditions.
At the PHY layer, implementing STC adds some overhead by requiring an extra
preamble in each OFDM frame. Bursts of data on the downlink that will be sent over
the two transmit chains must be preceded by a one-symbol preamble. The only extra
requirement is that the total number of symbols must be a multiple of two since the
receiver processes them in pairs according to the Alamouti algorithm. Only one STC
group of symbols is allowed per frame, and once it begins the base station must
transmit from both antennas until the end of the frame. The additional overhead is
therefore one symbol in each frame.
3.8.2 MIMO
Generalized MIMO diversity is not support for the OFDM PHY considered in this
white paper. MIMO is supported for the OFDMA PHY, which supports mobile
applications.
11
Maximal Ratio Combining (MRC) is typically used only at the base station for the uplink since it increases the cost of the
receiver hardware by requiring a second receiver chain. Received signal quality is improved by combining the two signals in
proportion to the ratio of the signal to noise levels. MRC adds no additional coding overhead.

3.9 Adaptive Antenna System (AAS)
Another strategy for improving system capacity is to spatially overlay coverage areas
by adding additional independent antennas systems. So far, we have only
considered fixed-gain-pattern antennas, which, if their coverage areas overlap,
require separate spectrum allocations to avoid interference. But suppose at the base
station we could electronically adapt the directional antenna gain profiles to
selectively point to particular subscriber stations while excluding others? By
manipulating multiple antenna patterns in time and space, independent antenna
systems could simultaneously access different subscriber stations in the same
overlapping coverage area without interfering with each other. This optional
capability is supported by WiMAX and implemented via multi-element phased array
base station antennas.
The benefits of AAS are enhanced system capacity, in theory scaling linearly with
the number of base station antennas assuming randomly located subscriber stations.
In addition there are SNR gains available arising from coherent antenna element
signal detection, and directing gain towards subscriber stations of interest while
simultaneously placing nulls on interfering transmitters. All this comes at the expense
of additional base station antenna complexity and processing.
Because this white paper focuses on fixed (no-AAS) infrastructure we will not include
them in our capacity discussion except to note that the added complexity of
managing the space-time channel access on the downlink implies additional
management overhead that would need to be accounted for.

4 Media Access Control Layer
The WiMAX interface to user traffic is the Media Access Control layer, which
transmits MAC SDUs to MAC peers over the PHY layer. This section presents the
overhead incurred at the MAC layer including mandatory and optional elements.
In the last section we looked at the overhead added by the physical layer to a
WiMAX channel. In this section we move up to the next layer in the protocol stack
and examine the Media Access Control (MAC) layer. In contrast to the physical
layer, where much of the overhead is fixed, the MAC layer introduces many variable
overhead elements that are either configuration-dependent, traffic-dependent, or
both. We begin by examining the structure of the MAC PDU.
4.1 MAC Header

Referring to Figure 1, the 802.16 MAC layer consists of three parts: the
Convergence Sub layer (CS), the Common Part Sub layer (CPS), and the Security
Sub layer (SS). The MAC layer accepts higher layer PDUs and places them in the
payloads of one or more MAC PDUs prior to sending them to the PHY layer for
transport over the airlink. In the reverse direction, the MAC layer receives MAC
PDUs from the PHY layer and reforms the original upper layer PDU before passing
them up the stack for transport over external interfaces. Data payloads may flow into
or out of the MAC layer via either user traffic interfaces, or the management plane.
MSB
LSB
Generic MAC Header Subheaders (optional) Payload (optional) CRC (optional)
6B (variable) 0 - 2041 B 4B
MSB
LSB
Bandwidth Request Header
6B
Figure 2 - MAC PDU Formats
The structure of the MAC PDU is shown in Figure 2. The MAC header comes in one
of two forms: the Generic MAC Header (GMH), or a Bandwidth Request Header
(BRH). Both GMH and BRH are fixed length and six Bytes long.
The structure of the GMH is shown in the following figure reproduced from the
standard. Notice that the length field (LEN) is 11 bits and therefore can specify a
MAC PDU including the header up to 2047 Bytes. The Connection Identifier (CID)
field identifies the virtual connection/service-flow of the MAC PDU.

Figure 3 - Generic MAC Header Format
The GMH may optionally have one or more appended sub-headers as follows:
• Fragmentation Sub header (2B, optionally 1B)
• Packing (3B, optionally 2B)
• Grant Management (2B)
• Mesh Sub header (2B)
• Fast-Feedback-Allocation (1B)
• Extended Sub header (variable length).
The sub headers can occur only once per MAC PDU except for the Packing sub
header, which may be inserted before each MAC SDU packed into the payload.
Following the GMH and optional sub headers comes the optional payload which is
variable length up to (2047 – 6) = 2041 Bytes but with the restriction that the entire
MAC PDU including header, sub headers, payload and CRC must be less than 2048
Bytes.
Following the GMH, optional sub headers, and optional payload, is the optional CRC,
which is four Bytes long.
The BRH is six Bytes long.
MAC PDUs will always begin with either a GMH or a BRH and are therefore at least
six Bytes long. MAC PDUs transporting data payloads will always begin with a
GMH.
With this background we can understand the overhead added by the MAC headers,
sub headers, and checksum to the payload being transported. From the figure we
see that MAC PDUs are variable in length and can be as short as six Bytes, or as
long as 2047 Bytes (211 - 1). The overhead for transporting the payload therefore
depends on the size of the payload. For example, a 1514B Ethernet frame (preamble
and CRC removed) has a minimum per-PDU MAC overhead of 10 / (1514+10) =
0.7% assuming no sub-headers but including a MAC CRC. On the other hand a
single short packet such as an 40B TCP/IP ACK over Ethernet would have a
minimum per-PDU MAC overhead of 10 / (54+10) = 15.6% overhead. No wonder the
standard allows multiple user packets to be packed into a single MAC PDU to
improve the efficiency of the wireless channel!

For analyzing the channel capacity, the 802.16 MAC structure presents some
challenges because of the number of optional fields. Each PDU carrying a data
payload must have a fixed-size GMH, but what about the optional sub-headers?
4.1.1 Sub headers

Although the additional overhead of the sub headers (typically two Bytes) is small,
we should pay attention to it because it potentially affects each MAC PDU that
transits the airlink.
4.1.1.1 Fragmentation
12
Fragmentation refers to splitting a MAC SDU across multiple MAC PDUs. The idea
is to allow better packing of MAC SDUs into the available OFDM frequency-time
resources by using all data sub carriers in each OFDM symbol. Use of fragmentation
is optional but encouraged to improve link efficiency.
For capacity analysis, it is reasonable to assume that some fraction of the MAC
PDUs will be fragmented. The variable overhead is an additional three Bytes added
to the 802.16 MAC header for each packed SDU. A worst-case assumption is to
assume that each MAC PDU includes a sub header when fragmentation is
supported. Both downlink and uplink channels are affected.
4.1.1.2 Packing
Packing refers to combining two or more MAC SDUs into a single MAC PDU. Like its
converse, fragmentation, this allows better packing of MAC SDUs into the available
OFDM frequency-time resources by using all data sub carriers in each OFDM
symbol. Use of packing is optional but encouraged to improve link efficiency.
For capacity analysis, it is reasonable to assume that some fraction of the MAC
PDUs will be packed. The variable overhead is an additional three Bytes added to
the 802.16 MAC header for each packed SDU.13 A worst-case assumption is to
assume that each MAC PDU includes a one or more sub headers when packing is
supported; the exact number depending on the relative sizes of the SDUs and PDU.
Both downlink and uplink channels are affected.
Normally packing and fragmentation are either both supported or not at all. Since
packing and fragmentation are mutually exclusive operations for a given MAC SDU
we can conservatively estimate that, on average, one packing sub header will be
present in each MAC PDU increasing the total header overhead by three bytes.
12
The PDUs however must still be part of the same transmission burst and cannot be split across TDMA frames.
13
An exception is made for connections with fixed-length SDUs where a packing sub header is not required.

If packing and fragmentation are not supported then the overhead associated with
fractionally used MAUs (see 3.6) will obviously be higher because the scheduler will
have fewer options to size the packets to the bandwidth allocations. This will be
particularly true for the uplink where only a single station can use a burst. Depending
on the traffic characteristics, this increased overhead can often be larger than the
small fractional overhead associated with the packing/fragmentation sub headers.
4.1.1.3 Grant Management

The Grant Management (GM) sub header is an optional method for subscriber
stations to communicate bandwidth management needs to the base station including
poll requests, slip indications, and bandwidth requests. Of these, bandwidth requests
are the only form of the sub header of consequence to capacity analysis since they
can occur relatively frequently. This method of bandwidth requesting is called a
‘piggyback’ request since it uses an existing uplink MAC PDU to signal the base
station that further data remains to be sent. The GM sub header adds two Bytes to
the MAC header and only affects the uplink channel overhead.
For capacity analysis the worst-case assumption is that each uplink MAC PDU
contains a GM sub header. A more realistic assumption is that 10% of the uplink
MAC PDUs carry the additional GM sub header overhead.
4.1.1.4 Mesh
The Mesh sub header is intended to support mesh operation where the subscriber
stations are allowed to communicate directly without a base station to relay the data.
Although the foundations are present in the 802.16 specification, the mesh portion
has received comparatively little attention and is relatively immature, reflecting the
current market focus on cell coverage deployments with base stations. Accordingly,
we will ignore mesh operation in this white paper.
4.1.1.5 Fast-Feedback-Allocation
The Fast-Feedback-Allocation (FFA) sub header is intended as a low-overhead and
low-latency method for allocating a small temporary uplink channel for the subscriber
station to communicate link information to the base station. It is presently supported
only for the OFDMA PHY for mobility and is therefore out of the scope of this white
paper.
4.1.1.6 Extended Sub header

The Extended sub header is a new feature added during development of the mobility
portion of the 802.16 standard. It supports sleep mode control, sequence number
control for handover, and another channel feedback mechanism. Its intended use is
mobility support applicable to the OFDMA PHY, and is therefore out of the scope of
this white paper.

4.2 Channel Usage Maps
The base station controls its sole access to the downlink channel and coordinates
multiple access of the uplink to one or more active subscriber stations. Since the
downlink is formed by one or more bursts of data, the subscriber stations must have
some way of learning the timing of the bursts and whether they need to listen to a
given burst to receive their traffic. Similarly, on the uplink the subscriber stations
need to have some way of learning when they can transmit on the (sub)channel and
for how long. Both of these needs are satisfied in 802.16 by broadcasting channel
allocation and usage information in each downlink frame. The information carries no
user traffic and is considered part of the downlink channel overhead. We therefore
need to take this into account in capacity analysis.
4.2.1 Frame Control Header

Immediately after the downlink preamble (see section 3.4), each downlink frame
must have a Frame Control Header (FCH) which is sent at the lowest modulation
and coding rate (BPSK 1/2) to ensure all subscriber stations in the coverage cell can
receive it. The FCH takes up one MAU, i.e. one OFDM symbol by all data sub
carriers. The FCH is used to describe up to four separate broadcast bursts in the
downlink frame. Each broadcast burst can use a different modulation and coding
profile in order from lowest to highest. The broadcast bursts must begin immediately
after the FCH and finish before any other bursts begin.
The overhead associated with the FCH is fixed i.e. one MAU each downlink frame.
The percentage overhead only changes if the frame length is changed.
Examples of data that may be in the first broadcast burst; includes, maps, burst
profile descriptions (UCD, DCD), grant allocations for initial ranging, grant allocations
for contention bandwidth requests, and so on. Although all subscriber stations listen
to the broadcast bursts, there may also be ordinary MAC PDUs with broadcast,
multicast, or unicast CIDs sent within a burst.14 It is up to the subscriber station to
classify the CIDs in each MAC PDU header to identify traffic destined for it.
4.2.2 Downlink Map

In the first broadcast burst following the FCH, the base station may insert a downlink
map to describe other bursts that follow the FCH broadcast burst(s). The size of the
downlink map is variable but can be sent with the most efficient modulation and
coding acceptable to the intended subscriber station recipients.
14
The waters are a bit murky here. Presumably a subscriber station must listen to all FCH referenced broadcast bursts that it is
capable of receiving, i.e. at the modulation and coding it uses and all lower combinations. On the other hand, it is impossible for
a subscriber station to decode bursts that are using a higher modulation and coding combination. It is the base station’s
responsibility to ensure that all broadcast information, including the maps, DCD, UCD, and so on, are sent in FCH referenced
bursts that use the lowest common modulation and coding.

The downlink map begins with eight Bytes of header information followed by one or
more information elements (DL-MAP_IE). Each DL-MAP_IE is four Bytes long but
can optionally contain variable length extensions. The basic size of the downlink map
is therefore 8 + N*4 Bytes, where N is the number of DL-MAP_IE using the frame.
There is one information element for each active connection using the downlink
frame and the map must terminate with an IE marking the end of the map. A
connection is typically associated with one subscriber station (unicast), but can be
configured to be shared between multiple stations.
The downlink map IE references a specific MAC connection (CID) and a burst profile
code (DIUC) so that a subscriber station can know whether a burst contains traffic
destined for it or not. This capability allows a subscriber station to skip bursts in the
downlink frame that contain no relevant traffic, thus reducing the processing load.
Multiple downlink map IE may point to the same burst, so that a burst can be shared
between one or more subscriber stations. The subscriber station must therefore be
capable of classifying the MAC PDU header CIDs to select the traffic destined for it.
How often downlink maps are sent, and therefore the amount of downlink overhead
they represent, depends on the channel configuration and how the base station
schedules the traffic. In cases where four or fewer burst profiles are in use, the FCH
alone could be used to reference all traffic without the need for a downlink map. On
the other hand, maps can be used to reduce the amount of downlink processing at
the subscriber station at the expense of increased map overhead. Normally this is a
design choice made by the base station designers.
For worst-case capacity estimation, each downlink frame includes a downlink map
whose size is determined by the number of active connections sharing the frame.
For example, if there were ten active connections, the size of the basic downlink map
would be 8 + 11*4 = 52 Bytes (excluding any extended information elements). How
much overhead this takes up in a frame depends on the modulation and coding used
to send the map. A worst-case assumption is that there will be some subscriber
stations capable of only BPSK modulation and the burst containing the maps will
therefore be forced to use this. In our example, a 52 Byte downlink map would
occupy five MAUs of the downlink frame using BPSK.
Notice that there is a recursive element to the size of the downlink map, set by the
number of active stations, which influences the channel capacity, which determines
the possible number of active stations! This suggests that accurate capacity analysis
needs to iterate to a self-consistent solution.

4.2.3 Uplink Map
Following the FCH and downlink map (if present) the base station may insert an
uplink map to indicate how the upcoming uplink channel frame should be allocated.
Practically speaking, an uplink map is essential, since without it the subscriber
stations would have no way of coordinating their uplink access. The size of the uplink
map is variable but can be sent with the most efficient modulation and coding
acceptable to the intended subscriber station recipients.
The uplink map begins with 11 Bytes of header information followed by one or more
information elements (UL-MAP_IE). Each UL-MAP_IE is six Bytes long but can
optionally contain variable length extensions. The basic size of the uplink map is
therefore 11 + N*6 Bytes, where N is the number of UL-MAP_IE using the frame.
There is one information element for each active connection using the frame and the
map must terminate with an IE marking the end of the map. Unless contention
access is intended, the subscriber station referenced in an UL-MAP_IE by CID must
refer to a unique uplink burst since each burst can only be used by a single station.
How often uplink maps are sent, and therefore the amount of downlink overhead
they represent, depends on the channel configuration and how the base station
schedules the traffic.
For capacity estimation, each downlink frame includes an uplink map whose size is
determined by the number of active connections that will share the uplink frame. For
example, if there were ten active connections the size of the basic uplink map would
be 11 + 11*6 = 77 Bytes (excluding any extended information elements). Again, how
much overhead this takes up in a frame depends on modulation and coding used to
send the map. A worst-case assumption is that there will be some subscriber
stations capable of receiving only BPSK modulation and the burst containing the
maps will therefore be forced to use this. In our example, a 77 Byte uplink map
would occupy seven MAUs of the downlink frame using BPSK.
4.2.4 Downlink and Uplink Channel Descriptors

After any downlink and uplink maps in the first broadcast burst the base station may
insert a Downlink Channel Descriptor (DCD) and/or an Uplink Channel Descriptor
(UCD). The purpose of the DCD/UCD is to define downlink/uplink burst profiles
specifying parameters such as modulation type, FEC, scrambler seed, cyclic prefix,
and transmit diversity type. Once defined, burst profiles are referred to in later
downlink maps via a numerical index called the Downlink Interval Usage Code
(DIUC) or Uplink Interval Usage Code (UIUC), which is associated with the profile.

The size of the DCD/UCD is variable depending on the number of downlink/uplink
burst profiles elements (Downlink/Uplink_Burst_Profile). Each DCD/UCD begins with
three/six bytes of header information followed by one or more channel descriptor
information elements. There are many possible options for configuring a channel so
the size of the channel descriptor depends on the configuration. For basic licensed
FDD operation a DCD/UCD might have 36/32 bytes of channel description and 15/6
bytes for each burst description. There is currently a downlink/uplink limit of 12/8
active burst types at any time but recall that multiple subscriber stations can share a
burst profile.
How often downlink or uplink channel descriptors are sent, and therefore the amount
of downlink overhead they represent, depends on the channel configuration and how
often conditions change, thus forcing updates. For example the types of modulation
and coding in use could vary over time. In general however the burst profiles will be
relatively static and we can ignore them for capacity estimation.
4.3 Bandwidth Requests

The 802.16 MAC protocol specifies several different ways that a subscriber station
can inform the base station that it has data to send on the uplink. Most of these
methods involve sending a BRH (see Figure 2) for which the subscriber station must
first obtain an uplink channel access grant from the base station. Since there is
overhead associated with getting the grants as well as sending the requests we are
interested in the specifics of the bandwidth request mechanism.
In this section we will describe the basic mechanisms without explaining why they
exist. Later we will see how these are used for providing quality of service (QoS) and
further discuss their ramifications on channel overhead in the context of QoS
connection profiles.
4.3.1 Contention
Contention based uplink access is a method where the base station periodically
allocates part of the uplink channel capacity (grants a “transmit opportunity”) to
specified stations that might have data to send. The stations in the contention group
are identified by their CID. There are two ways used to manage the process.

4.3.1.1 Full Contention
The mandatory method for issuing the grant is for the base station to include a “REQ
Region Full” uplink map information element in the uplink map, which is sent to the
subscriber stations on the downlink. There is one information element for each
subscriber station CID in the contention group. The information element allocates
some whole number of MAU to the stations to use for sending BRH PDUs in the
pending uplink frame. Request collisions are handled in the usual exponential back-
off fashion so that eventually a station can have its request heard. When the base
station receives a BRH it responds by allocating an uplink allocation for the
requested CID. A subscriber station that does not see an uplink allocation response
from the base station assumes that there has been a collision and retries the
request.
The overhead associated with this method is in the small addition to the size of
uplink map (see 4.2.3), but mainly in the contention allocation itself, which must allow
for the most robust modulation and coding combination. The interval between
contention allocations is configurable.
The uplink contention allocation includes a one-symbol preamble followed by one or

more symbols configured for the allocation. The number of symbols depends on the
most robust modulation and coding and the number of sub-channels used for the
allocation. The size of the allocation should be sufficient to send one BRH. For
example, since the BRH is 6 + 4 = 10 Bytes assuming a CRC is used, the number of
required symbols is 10 / sizeof(MAU). If there are four sub-channels in the allocation,
then from Eq. 10 and Table 1, and assuming BPSK 1/2 modulation and coding, then
four OFDM symbols are required to hold one BRH. If desired, the base station can
allocate multiple contention allocation opportunities in a frame.
4.3.1.2 Focused Contention

A second optional method for issuing the grant is for the base station to include a
“REQ Region Focused” uplink map information element in the uplink map, which is
sent to the subscriber stations on the downlink. There is one information element for
each subscriber station CID in the contention group. The information element
allocates some whole number of OFDM symbols to the stations to use for sending
special coded requests for a non-contention bandwidth request allocation in the
pending uplink frame. The base station, upon detecting a coded request, sends back
an allocation in the uplink map, coupled with its corresponding code index so that
subscriber stations can know their request was heard. The subscriber station then
uses the non-contention uplink allocation to send a BRH to the base station that
responds by granting an uplink allocation for the requested CID in an uplink map.
Focused contention is therefore a three-way handshake: subscriber requests a
grant, base allocates a grant, and subscriber sends a BRH.15
15
Whether a base station supports Focused Contention is an implementation decision. The mandatory Full Contention method
suffers from congestion collapse beyond a ‘knee’ in the curve of the access latency versus number of active subscriber
stations. Where this point is varies according to the uplink traffic patterns of the subscriber stations. Focused Contention on the
other hand is much more robust and can handle situation where there are a large number of simultaneously contending
subscriber stations. The tradeoff is the increased overhead and latency of the three-way handshake.

Request collisions are handled in the usual exponential back-off fashion so that
eventually a station can have its request heard. To reduce the chance of collisions
Focused Contention subdivides the total uplink data carriers into sub-channel groups
of four carriers each and further uses one of eight available CDMA codes for
transmitting the request. The codes are transmitted for two consecutive symbols. A
subscriber station randomly selects a sub-channel and code index pair. A collision
occurs only if two subscriber stations happen to choose the same index pair.16 A
subscriber station that does not see an uplink allocation response from the base
station assumes that there has been a collision and retries the request.
The overhead associated with this method is in the small addition to the size of the
uplink map (see 4.2.3), but mainly in the uplink contention allocation itself, plus the
following bandwidth request allocation. The interval between contention allocations is
configurable.
The uplink contention allocation is two OFDM symbols, by all data carriers. This is
shared by all requesting stations as explained above.
The subsequent uplink bandwidth request allocation, one for each requesting
subscriber station, includes a one-symbol preamble followed by one or more
symbols configured for the allocation. The number of symbols depends on the
modulation and coding and the number of sub-channels used for the allocation. The
size of the allocation should be sufficient to send one BRH. For example, since the
BRH is 6 + 4 = 10 Bytes, and assuming a CRC is used, then the number of required
symbols is 10 / sizeof(MAU). If there are four sub-channels in the allocation, then
from Eq. 10 and Table 1, and assuming BPSK 1/2 modulation and coding, four
OFDM symbols are required to hold one BRH.
4.3.2 Polling
Polling is a process where the base station periodically allocates part of the uplink
channel capacity (issues a “grant” or “transmit opportunity” in the uplink map) to each
participating subscriber station that might have data to send. The transmit
opportunity itself is the poll, there is no explicit message type. The subscriber
stations use the transmit opportunity to send a BRH to request uplink bandwidth. The
grants must therefore be at least large enough to send one BRH.
Polls may be unicast or multicast or broadcast according to the CID specified in the
uplink map transmit opportunity information element. If a poll is multicast or
broadcast then one of the contention bandwidth request methods (full or focused) is
specified to collect the bandwidth request responses. Unicast polls are directed
towards a single CID associated with a single subscriber station.
The overhead associated with this method is in the small addition to the size of
uplink map (see 4.2.3), but mainly in the request allocation itself, which must allow
16
The odds of choosing the same Focused Contention sub-channel are 1 in 50 and choosing the same code are 1 in 8. The
overall collision probability for a given contention opportunity is therefore 1/(50*8) = 0.25%. The tradeoff is the additional
complexity, latency, and overhead of the method’s three-way handshake.

for the modulation and coding combination in use by the requesting subscriber
station.17 The interval between polls is configurable for a given CID.
The uplink contention allocation includes a one-symbol preamble followed by one or

more symbols configured for the allocation. The number of symbols depends on the
modulation and coding and the number of sub-channels used for the allocation. The
size of the allocation should be sufficient to send one BRH. For example, since the
BRH is 6 + 4 = 10 Bytes assuming a CRC is used, then the number of required
symbols is 10 / sizeof(MAU). If there are four sub-channels in the allocation, then
from Eq. 10 and Table 1, assuming BPSK 1/2 modulation and coding, five OFDM
symbols by four sub-channels are required to hold one BRH plus the mandatory
preamble. For this example, if the polling interval for a connection is configured to be
once a frame, and the frame length is 10ms, this amounts to 3B/MAU * 5 MAU /
10ms = 12 kbps in bandwidth request overhead.
4.3.3 Piggyback
A piggyback bandwidth request is a method of using a previously granted uplink
channel access opportunity to inform the base station that a subscriber station
requires another allocation to send pending data. The idea is that once a subscriber
station obtains uplink channel access it can use the channel for future bandwidth
requests without incurring the overhead associated with contention or polling. This is
most useful when a subscriber station connection has long consecutive trains of data
packets to send.
To improve efficiency, the method uses a GM sub header of the GMH (see 4.1.1.3).
The overhead associated with piggybacking adds two bytes to the length of a MAC
PDU. Support for piggyback requests by a subscriber station is optional.
17
In cases where there are a large number of inactive subscriber stations to poll, supporting unicast polling to each of them
would be an inefficient use of the downlink frame’s uplink map, and the uplink frame’s bandwidth request opportunities.
Multicast polling was designed with this case in mind to improve bandwidth efficiency. The collection of subscriber stations are
assigned to a special bandwidth request multicast group and only those that have traffic to send respond to the multicast polls.
Broadcast polling is similar, except that all subscriber stations that have traffic to send respond to the polls.

5 Channel Bandwidth Calculation
At this point in the white paper it should be readily apparent that there is a complex
interrelated array of factors in the WiMAX MAC and PHY layers that influence the
channel capacity in terms of the useful available bandwidth. It can be confusing how
the various factors should be combined, and in what order, to determine the channel
bandwidth capacity. This sections aims to clarify that process.
Our approach is to summarize the list of factors in a step-by-step sequence diagram

in order to illustrate the process of calculating the useful channel bandwidth. Putting
the sequence diagram into practice, we will present an example spreadsheet
channel model for exploring various configuration scenarios. In order to keep the
discussion to a reasonable length we will focus on a FDD system where the uplink
and downlink TDMA frames are independent of one another. Analysis of TDD
systems would be similar except user input of the time partitioning of the single
uplink/downlink TDMA frame would be required.
1 5 8 13
input channel size input frame length input avg user pk
calc preamble o/h
(MHz) (2.5 to 20 ms) (B)
2 6 9 14
input cyclic prefix
calc frame o/h calc FCH o/h calc MAC hdr o/h
(1/4 to 1/32)
3 7 10 15
input mod and
calc frame bw calc DL map o/h calc MAC subhdr o/h
coding distribution
4 11 16
calc useful channel bw calc UL map o/h calc MAC CRC o/h
12 17
calc useful frame bw calc useful MAC bw
Figure 4 - Downlink Bandwidth Calculation Sequence
Beginning with the downlink, Figure 4 presents the sequence diagram for accounting
for the various PHY and MAC overhead contributions in order to calculate the useful
channel bandwidth. In the figure there are four intermediate results represented in
the four columns. In column one the raw channel bandwidth is determined. In
column two the basic TDMA framing overhead is accounted for. In column three the
required preamble and channel management overhead is taken out. In column four
the various per-packet overhead is accounted for resulting finally in the useful user
bandwidth available at the input of the MAC protocol layer.

Various user inputs are required to complete the calculation. As indicated in Figure
4, steps 1, 2, 3, 5, 13 call out those inputs which we have already discussed in
sections 3 and 4.
1 5 8 16
input channel size input frame length input avg user pk
calc ranging o/h
(MHz) (2.5 to 20 ms) (B)
2 6 9 17
input cyclic prefix
calc frame o/h input subch size calc MAC hdr o/h
(1/4 to 1/32)
3 7 10 18
input mod and
calc frame bw calc MAU calc MAC subhdr o/h
coding distribution
4 11 19
calc useful channel bw calc contention o/h calc MAC CRC o/h
12 20
input burst size calc useful MAC bw
13
calc subch o/h
14
calc preamble o/h
15
calc useful frame bw
Figure 5 - Uplink Bandwidth Calculation Sequence
Figure 5 presents the companion sequence diagram for the uplink, which similarly
accounts for the various PHY and MAC overhead contributions leading to the useful
channel bandwidth. As with the downlink there are four intermediate results
represented in the four columns. The first two and last columns are identical to the
downlink. The third column accounts for the required preambles and required
channel management overhead, which differs from downlink.
Again, user inputs are required to complete the calculation. These inputs are
indicated in steps 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 12, 16 of Figure 5 as previously discussed in sections
3 and 4.

Figure 6 presents a screen shot of a spreadsheet model which implements the
sequence steps of Figure 4 for the downlink and Figure 5 for the uplink on separate
tabs (downlink tab shown).18 The cells in blue are the user inputs to the bandwidth
calculation. The other cells are formulas or constants that should not be changed.
The result of the calculation is shown in the last two rows of the model, which
present the aggregate useful channel bandwidth, Cmac, in units of Mbits/s and the
equivalent spectral efficiency, Seff, of the channel. By changing the inputs various
channel scenarios can be investigated.
Item Value Units Comments
ch_size 3.5 MHz Channel size (sets sampling rate)

cyclic_exp 3 # Cyclic prefix exponent N (2 to 5 where 5 represents the shortest prefix), Tg = Tb/2^N
BPSK-1/2 5 % Fraction of SS using the modulation
QPSK-1/2 2.5 % Fraction of SS using the modulation
QPSK-3/4 2.5 % Fraction of SS using the modulation
16QAM-1/2 5 % Fraction of SS using the modulation
n 1.143 # Sampling factor
Fs 4.0 MHz Sampling frequency
Tb 64.0 us Useful symbol time
Tg 8.0 us Guard time (cyclic prefix)
Ts 72 us Symbol Time (Tb+Tg)
C 9.97 Mbps Useful channel bandwidth
Tf 10 ms Frame length {2.5, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12.5, 20 ms}

N 138 symbols Frame length is whole symbols
Cf 9.90 Mbps Frame bandwidth
sc 8 subch Configured subch's per SS (1,2,4,8,16), 16 means that SS uses all data subcarriers during uplink access
Nfull 1 # / frame Number of Full Contention allocations per frame
Nfocused 0 # / frame Number of Focused Contention allocations per frame (optional), (set 0 if not supported)
NfocusedSS 5 # / frame Number of SS contending with Focused Contention per frame
Npolls 5 # / frame Number of bandwidth request polls per frame (one for each polled connection)
ranging 3 symbols Initial ranging grant (3 symbols per ranging opportunity)
MAU 44.85 Bytes Minimum Allocation Unit (includes average coding and modulation)
MAUpf 276 MAU Number of MAU per frame
full_cont 2 MAU Full Contention request allocation
focused_cont1 0 symbols Focused Contention request allocation - phase 1
focused_cont2 10 MAU Focused Contention request allocation - phase 2
p 10 MAU Polling allocations
Nb 1 PDU Average number of MAC PDU per burst
b 78 Bytes Average burst size (depends on payload size below)
b_MAU 3 MAU Average burst allocation
bpf 68 # User traffic bursts per frame (ignores fractional filled burst and suboptimal packing efficiency)
Cf_useful 5.86 Mbps Useful downlink frame bandwidth
Figure 6 - WiMAX Channel Bandwidth Spreadsheet Model
18
In the Microsoft Word version of this document the spreadsheet is linked as an imbedded object (right-click > worksheet
object > open). Otherwise the spreadsheet model file is available on request to SR Telecom.

6 QoS
In the previous sections of this white paper we have examined the various factors
that influence the overall channel bandwidth. What remains after accounting for the
per-channel and per-packet overhead is the usable channel bandwidth. This channel
size is the relevant quantity for determining the service capacity consistent with the
QoS parameters. The traffic engineering for how the bandwidth is apportioned to the
various active connections is typically left to operator configuration. In this section we
will illustrate one way in which this could be accomplished. We begin by reviewing
the three basic service types supported by WiMAX.
6.1 Constant Bit Rate Services

WiMAX compliant systems can support Constant Bit Rate (CBR) by configuring
dedicated frequency-time channel grants to specific traffic flows. The dedicated
resources correspond to a constant throughput rate. CBR service flows are suitable
for applications with strict latency and throughput constraints and that generate a
steady stream of fixed size packets such as VoIP. These service flows can be
dynamically set up or torn down in response to detection by the system of changing
traffic needs.
On the downlink, the base station directly controls the scheduling of traffic and
allocation of the frequency-time channel resources. Dedicating a portion of the
channel bandwidth for CBR flows is therefore a matter of keeping track of the
allocated resources and transporting any available packets from appropriately
classified traffic.
For the uplink the Unsolicited Grant Service (UGS) scheduling method is used. The
base station dedicates a portion of the uplink channel bandwidth to a Subscriber
Station corresponding to one or more service flows for the duration of the flow. The
base station communicates this assignment to the Subscriber Station in the uplink
channel usage maps that are periodically broadcast out to all stations.
From a capacity standpoint, the key CBR QoS parameter is the unvarying Maximum
Sustained Traffic Rate, which is the committed information rate for the flow. The
maximum rate is unconditionally dedicated to the flow and therefore can be directly
subtracted from the available user channel size to determine the remaining capacity.
The only overhead associated with CBR flows is the UGS grant overhead, which
increases the size of the uplink channel usage map.
Although the bandwidth is dedicated for a CBR service flow, the base station
scheduler implementation could still elect to temporarily “borrow” the dedicated
bandwidth on the downlink frame if there is no CBR traffic to send. The scheduler
must however issue uplink grants according to the CBR service flow configuration
whether or not the subscriber station has any traffic to send (the scheduler has no
way of knowing in advance).

6.2 Variable Bit Rate Services
For applications that have variable traffic throughput demands WiMAX systems
support Variable Bit Rate (VBR) services. VBR service flows are suitable for
applications that generate fluctuating traffic loads including compressed streaming
video and VoIP with silence suppression.
allocation of the frequency-time channel resources. Dedicating a portion of the
channel bandwidth is therefore a matter of keeping track of the allocated resources
and transporting any available packets from appropriately classified traffic. The base
station performs this scheduling successively for each TDMA frame that is sent out
(e.g. every 10 ms) so that the time varying nature of the VBR traffic can be
supported in real time.
For the uplink there are several scheduling methods depending on the QoS
requirements for the service flow.
For flows with strict real time access constraints, periodic polling assures that the
subscriber station will have guaranteed channel access up to a specified Minimum
Reserved Traffic Rate. Real time Polling Service (rtPS) operates by having the base
station poll individual subscriber stations periodically (e.g. every frame) to solicit
bandwidth requests (see 4.3.2). Extended real time Polling Service (ertPS) operates
more like UGS except that the committed maximum rate can be changed on the fly
as controlled by subscriber station signaling.
For flows with looser real time access constraints, non real time Polling Service
(nrtPS) operates like rtPS except the polls can be directed at individual or groups of
subscriber stations, and the latency of the base station response to bandwidth
requests is not guaranteed.19 The subscriber stations can also use piggyback
methods to request continuing channel access (see 4.3.3).
For capacity calculations, the two key VBR QoS parameters are the Minimum
Reserved Traffic Rate and the Maximum Sustained Traffic Rate. For VBR, the
minimum rate corresponds to the committed information rate. Since the minimum
rate is guaranteed, it can be directly subtracted from the available user channel size
to determine the remaining capacity. The maximum rate is the peak information rate
that the system will permit. Traffic, submitted by a subscriber station at rates
bounded by the minimum and maximum rates, is dealt with by the base station on a
non-guaranteed basis. The overhead associated with VBR service comes from the
polling method (see 4.3.2) except for ertPS, which basically has the same overhead
as UGS i.e. the size of the uplink channel usage maps is increased for each active
flow.
19
If the polls are directed at a group of subscriber stations the responses must use a contention bandwidth request interval to
respond since request collisions can occur.

Although the bandwidth is dedicated for the Minimum Reserved portion of the VBR
service flow, the base station scheduler implementation could still elect to
temporarily “borrow” the dedicated bandwidth on the downlink frame if there is no
traffic to send. The scheduler must however issue uplink grants for bandwidth
requests according to the VBR service flow configuration for the Minimum Reserved
QoS parameter whether or not the subscriber station has any traffic to send (the
scheduler has no way of knowing in advance).
6.3 Best Effort Services

Best effort (BE) services are intended for service flows with the loosest QoS
requirements in terms of channel access latency and without guaranteed bandwidth.
Best effort services are appropriate for applications such as web browsing and file
transfers that can tolerate intermittent interruptions and reduced throughput without
serious consequence.
allocation of the frequency-time channel resources. For best effort services, the
affected traffic is sent as surplus capacity that is available after satisfying other
guaranteed service types.
On the uplink, the base station should provide periodic contention intervals (see
4.3.1) in order for subscriber stations with best effort flows to submit their bandwidth
requests. The subscriber stations can also use piggyback methods to request
continuing channel access (see 4.3.3).
The overhead associated with best effort services comes from providing the
contention intervals for bandwidth requests.
6.4 Sharing Non-Guaranteed Bandwidth

In comparing best effort services against variable bit rate services an ambiguity
becomes apparent. The system must by definition not admit more guaranteed
bandwidth traffic onto the channel than it can supply. On the other hand, VBR and
BE services can both have non-guaranteed traffic. For VBR it is the portion of traffic
submitted at rates above the Minimum Reserved rate. For BE it is all of the
submitted traffic. How should the scheduler deal with this situation in cases where
there is insufficient remaining capacity to honor all requests? Shown graphically in
Figure 7, what should happen if regions C and D overlap?20 The answer is not
21
specified by the 802.16 standard but is left to vendor implementation.
20
Note that the figure illustrates the case where the scheduler actually has traffic to fill the guaranteed portion of the channel. If
that were not the case then in theory the scheduler can temporarily borrow the guaranteed bandwidth to satisfy non-guaranteed
bandwidth requests. For capacity estimations we need to assume the worst case where the guaranteed bandwidth is in use.
21
This should not come as a surprise; the base station scheduler design is similarly not described by the standard. The authors
of the standard were trying to balance the conflicting requirements of creating a standard while allowing freedom where
possible for product differentiation and innovation.

CBR
A
guaranteed
VBR
MR
B
non-guaranteed
VBR
C
MS
D
BE
Figure 7 – Aggregate Channel Bandwidth Partitioning
One simple way to deal with the issue might be to implement a policy of fair-sharing
the non-guaranteed bandwidth between VBR and BE. That is, equally divide any
remaining bandwidth up between all requesting VBR and BE service flows. The
problem with this approach is that is does not allow service providers much control to
differentiate their services. The other problem is that, while VBR can specify a
minimum information rate, BE services under severe congestion can be starved with
throughput rates approaching zero. A better solution is to provide a method for
prioritizing access to non-guaranteed bandwidth, which can be done by introducing
the concept of service flow over-subscription.22
6.5 Over-Subscription
Over-subscription, sometimes called over-booking, in simplest terms means taking
advantage of the fact that, for many systems, absolute peak demand on shared
resources rarely occur. Examples are everywhere in daily life. Airlines aggressively
over-subscribe their seat capacity. Public telephone networks over-subscribe their
network switching capacity. The point of over-subscription is that system capacity
requirements can be significantly reduced if the requirement to handle absolute
worst-case scenarios is ignored. However, over-subscription comes at a price that is
related to trading hard guarantees of service for soft statistical guarantees.23
Depending on the nature of shared resource usage (“the traffic”), and how
aggressively the resource is over-subscribed, there can be exceptional periods
where there is more demand than can be served.
22
The 802.16 standard also includes the ability to specify a traffic priority QoS parameter for VBR and BE service flows. This
allows basic grouping of priority between sets of service flows. However, it does not distinguish between guaranteed and non-
guaranteed VBR traffic or allow division of priority beyond eight basic levels.
23
How mathematically rigorous the statistics of the guarantees are usually depends on how much is known about the offered
traffic. One well-known example is the blocking probability associated with traditional voice Erlang statistics. On the other hand,
mixed application packet data networks are notoriously difficult to treat with statistical methods for the general case. Often this
results in resorting to empirical rules derived from traffic measurements of a given user population.

In the case of WiMAX networks, operators can choose to over-subscribe the total
network capacity in order to improve overall network utilization and cost per line
business economics. There are two basic scenarios. An operator can choose to
over-subscribe one or more service flow’s ‘guaranteed’ bandwidth, or they might
choose to over-subscribe their non-guaranteed bandwidth.
Generally over-subscription of guaranteed bandwidth is a practice that operators

approach with caution since their customers naturally expect that their service
agreements will be honored always. But the fine print of these agreements may also
allow for (hopefully) rare periods when the network will not be able to support the
guaranteed performance. One simple example could be that VoIP users are
guaranteed that less than 1% of their call attempts will be blocked. This can be
accomplished by using Erlang statistics to reserve an over-subscribed block of
bandwidth sufficient to support a given number of voice lines.
Over-subscription of non-guaranteed bandwidth is of course fair game but an

operator must still balance their users’ service level expectations against the degree
of over-subscription of the network capacity. If users are told that they can expect
“up to” some peak level of service but discover that during busy hours that they can
only get one tenth of that service they will likely be dissatisfied with their service.
Often this is handled by marketing a “typical” level of service associated with a given
level of over-subscription (related to the total number of users) and an “up to” service
rate limit.
Returning to the issue of shared non-guaranteed bandwidth between VBR and BE

service flows, one solution for prioritizing the access would be to associate a level of
over-subscription to each service flow. For VBR flows there are two relevant
independent levels of over-subscription, one for the guaranteed Minimum Reserved
portion, and a second for the non-guaranteed portion corresponding to rates
bounded by the Minimum Reserved and the Maximum Sustained limits. For BE flows
there is just one level of over-subscription associated with the Maximum Sustained
limit. If the system allows the service flows to be configured in this manner then the
relative priority ranking of the non-guaranteed portions of the VBR and BE service
flows can be accomplished. This in turn allows operators to calculate the total
number of lines of service that can be provisioned for a given service scenario.
In summary of this section, the problem of allocating the aggregate system capacity
to the various service flows must take into account the QoS requirements of those
flows. Dedicated or guaranteed bandwidth must be dealt with first and what remains
is shared by non-guaranteed services. Figure 8 illustrates an example of the
allocation sequence. In the figure, steps 8 and 9 are required only if there is more
demand for non-guaranteed combined VBR and BE bandwidth than can be served.

1 6 10
calc user channel bw calc VBR MS bw alloc VBR MS bw
2 7 11
alloc CBR bw calc BE MS bw alloc BE MS bw
3 8 12
calc remaining ch calc VBR MS % no remaining bw
bw remaining bw done
4 9
calc BE MS%
alloc VBR MR bw
remaining bw
5
calc remaining ch bw
Figure 8 - Allocating Network Bandwidth

7 Capacity Scenarios
We will conclude our discussion of WiMAX capacity by presenting several
hypothetical data service and deployment configuration scenarios and analyzing the
system capacity
7.1 Broadband Data-Only

Operator A intends to deploy a WiMAX based broadband data service to a collection
of subscribers and wishes to know how many subscribers each base station channel
can support. The operator has determined the following channel parameters:
• 3.5 MHz channels

• FDD
• 1/8 cyclic prefix
• 80% 64QAM (evenly split 3/4, 2/3)
• 10% 16QAM (evenly split 3/4, 1/2)
• 5% QPSK (evenly split 3/4, 1/2)
• 5% BPSK-1/2
• 20 ms frame length
• 8 uplink sub-channel allocation groups (2 sub-channels per group)
• STC enabled
Using the spreadsheet model calculator in section 5 the usable user downlink
channel size is estimated to be 9.3 Mbps. The uplink channel size is estimated to be
5.2 Mbps. Because the expected downlink/uplink offered traffic ratio is expected to
be 4:1, whereas the channel bandwidth ratio is about 2:1, the system will be
constrained by downlink bandwidth and the capacity analysis can ignore the uplink.
The operator has determined the following downlink service parameters:
• ‘Platinum’ subscribers: VBR, 1 Mbps minimum reserved (OSR 10), 3 Mbps

maximum sustained (OSR 20), SME users, 5% of total subscriber
population
• ‘Gold’ subscribers: VBR, 500 Mbps minimum reserved (OSR 10), 1 Mbps
maximum sustained (OSR 20), SOHO users, 10% of total subscriber
population
• ‘Silver’ subscribers: BE, 1 Mbps maximum sustained (OSR 20), residential
users, 85% of total subscriber population
To determine the channel capacity in terms of the number of subscribers we need to

determine the average bandwidth for each type of subscriber weighted by the take
rate for that type:
<BW> = 5%*[1000/10+(3000-1000)/20] + 10%[500/10+(1000-500)/20] + 85%*[1000/20]
<BW> = 60 kbps/sub.

The estimated capacity of the channel is therefore:
Nsub = 9.3 Mbps / 60 kbps/sub = 155 subscribers.
The operator can use this information to help determine the required number of
channels (sectors) per base station and where the base stations should be located.
7.2 Mixed Voice and Broadband

Operator B plans to offer combined VoIP voice and broadband data services and
wishes to know how many subscribers each base station channel can support. The
operator has determined the following channel parameters (same as above except
shorter frame time to reduce VoIP latency):
• (same as above)
• 10 ms frame length
Using the spreadsheet model calculator in section 5 the usable user downlink
channel size is estimated to be 8.8 Mbps. The uplink channel size is estimated to be
4.8 Mbps. The expected broadband downlink/uplink offered traffic ratio is expected
to be 4:1. The voice downlink/uplink offered traffic ration is expected to be 1:1. It is
unclear whether the uplink or downlink channel will constrain the capacity so both
are considered in the analysis.
The operator has determined the following downlink service parameters:
• ‘Platinum’ subscribers: VBR, 1 Mbps minimum reserved (OSR 10), 3 Mbps

maximum sustained (OSR 20), SME users, 5% of total subscriber
population
• ‘Gold’ subscribers: VBR, 500 Mbps minimum reserved (OSR 10), 1 Mbps
maximum sustained (OSR 20), SOHO users, 10% of total subscriber
population
• ‘Silver’ subscribers: BE, 1 Mbps maximum sustained (OSR 20), residential
users, 85% of total subscriber population
• VoIP subscribers: CBR, 100mE/line, 1% GoS, 100% of total subscriber
population, G.711 vocoder with compressed RTP headers and UDP
checksums.
The operator has determined the following uplink service parameters:
• Broadband data (same as downlink except all rates reduced by 1/4)

• VoIP subscribers: (same as downlink).
Neglecting VoIP for the moment, the average downlink data rate per subscriber is:
<BW> = 5%*[1000/10+(3000-1000)/20] + 10%[500/10+(1000-500)/20] + 85%*[1000/20]
<BW> = 60 kbps/sub.

The same calculation for the average uplink data rate per subscriber is:
<BW> = 5%*[250/10+(750-250)/20] + 10%[125/10+(250-125)/20] + 85%*[250/20]
<BW> = 15 kbps/sub.
To account for the VoIP traffic we should consider the vocoder data rate and Erlang
statistics. For G.711, with cRTP and UDP checksums, the operator determines that
the rate is about 82 kbps counting all application header overhead (except 802.16).
In order to know the amount of bandwidth that must be reserved for the peak number
of simultaneous calls, the total number of lines must be known. Unfortunately, that is
precisely what the operator is trying to determine so the operator “guesses” that the
system can support 120 total lines. The estimated total offered traffic will then be:
T = 120 lines * 100mE/line = 12.0 Erlang
Assuming 1% GoS this equates (using ErlangB tables) to as many as 20

simultaneous calls. The total bandwidth required to support VoIP will therefore be:
BWvoip = 20 * 82 kbps = 1640 kbps.
The VoIP dedicated bandwidth needs to be deducted from the available channel
before calculating the total broadband data subscriber capacity.
Nsub = (8.8 Mbps – 1.6 Mbps) / 60 kbps/sub = 120 subscribers.24
Now we need to check the capacity of the uplink:
Nsub = (4.8 Mbps – 1.6 Mbps) / 15 kbps/sub = 213 subscribers.
Once again the constraining channel is the downlink and the capacity is therefore
120 voice and broadband data subscribers per channel.
The operator can use this information to help determine the required number of
channels (sectors) per base station and where the base stations should be located.
24
Obviously the operator’s “guess” of the correct number of lines was fortuitous for purposes of illustration. In general the
answer can be obtained by successively iterating to a self-consistent answer.

8 Summary
In this white paper we have attempted to show why access and service providers
need to have detailed knowledge of their WiMAX system’s capacity in order to
successfully deploy their intended services. One of WiMAX’s advantages is the high
degree of configurability, which translates to being adaptable to diverse service
scenarios. Analysis of WiMAX capacity therefore depends on many interrelated
channel configuration options and protocol overhead considerations. It is this very
flexibility that makes it difficult to generalize about the system capacity.
We have presented a thorough discussion of the various contributions to the system

overhead from the MAC and PHY layers. To illustrate the procedure of calculating
the bandwidth capacity we discussed the analysis sequence flow and presented a
spreadsheet model of the bandwidth capacity.
With an understanding of system bandwidth capacity in hand, we discussed the

WiMAX QoS model and the partitioning of the available bandwidth into the three
basic service types.
Finally, we looked at two hypothetical WiMAX service scenarios, using the tools
developed in this white paper to arrive at a capacity in terms of the number of users
that could be supported.

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8150 Trans-Canada Hwy.
Montreal, QC
H4S 1M5
Canada
info@srtelecom.com
www.srtelecom.com

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WiMAX Capacity White Paper

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SR TELECOM, SYMMETRY, SYMMETRYONE and SYMMETRYMX are trademarks

© 2006, SR Telecom Inc.

WHITE PAPER 033-100743-001,ISSUE 1 2

2 PROTOCOL MODEL .................................................................................... 8

2.1 DATA/CONTROL PLANE..............................................................................9

3 PHYSICAL LAYER ..................................................................................... 10

3.1 CHANNEL SIZE ........................................................................................10

4 MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL LAYER ......................................................... 22

4.1 MAC HEADER ........................................................................................22

5 CHANNEL BANDWIDTH CALCULATION ................................................. 33

6.1 CONSTANT BIT RATE SERVICES................................................................36

WHITE PAPER 033-100743-001,ISSUE 1 3

WHITE PAPER 033-100743-001,ISSUE 1 4

FIGURE 1 - IEEE 802.16 PROTOCOL REFERENCE MODEL .......................................... 8

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The present standards document, IEEE 802.16-2004 as amended by IEEE 802.16-

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In a WiMAX wireless channel, the situation is considerably more complex as we shall

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Figure 1 - IEEE 802.16 Protocol Reference Model

A standard protocol-layering model is used. MAC peers communicate by

In the point-to-multipoint mode of operation, a base station transmits on the downlink

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2.2 Management Plane

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3.1 Channel Size

The obvious issue is interoperability between hardware implementations, which the

Many large operators have strong motivation, either competitive or regulatory, to

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Eq. 1) Fs = FLOOR(n · BW / 8000) · 8000 ,

For example ∆f = Fs/256 = 15,625 Hz for a 3.5 MHz channel.

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As we noted, the orthogonality of the sub carriers is achieved by maintaining an

Eq. 5) G = 1/2m, m = {2,3,4,5}.

Eq. 6) Craw = 192 · k / Ts,

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Table 1 - Mandatory Channel Coding Per Modulation

Eq. 7) C = Craw x OCR,

It is useful to summarize the discussion of the channel capacity is terms of the

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Eq. 9) N = FLOOR(Tf / Ts)

Where Tf is the frame length. In this case, N = FLOOR(10ms/72us) = 138 symbols.

On the downlink (base station talking to a subscriber station) synchronization is

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To summarize, preambles required for receiver synchronization and ranging are

Because the focus of midambles is on mobility where channel estimation is more

Sub-channels affect the channel capacity indirectly by changing the minimum

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3.6 Minimum Allocation Unit

Eq. 10) SIZEOF(MAU) = FLOOR(Nc * Nsc * OCR / 16) , where

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Clearly, the additional overhead represented by fractionally occupied downlink MAUs

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3.7 Adaptive Modulation/Coding and Power Control

Adaptive modulation and coding is relevant to our capacity discussion because it

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3.8.1 Space-Time Coding (STC)

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4.1 MAC Header

<BW> = 5%[1000/10+(3000-1000)/20] + 10%[500/10+(1000-500)/20] + 85%[1000/20]

<BW> = 5%[1000/10+(3000-1000)/20] + 10%[500/10+(1000-500)/20] + 85%[1000/20]

<BW> = 5%[250/10+(750-250)/20] + 10%[125/10+(250-125)/20] + 85%[250/20]